Thursday, October 30, 2014

I started this column for the main reason on informing the public of all the news that never sees the light of day. On a more personal level, I also write this to prove to my naysayers that I am right a lot. My accuracy rate of predicting events that the MSM eventually, reluctantly, seems to address is around 80%. That's not bad. My predictions of war have been woeful however, and due to rampant economic fraud conspired by the government and corporations, even my usual economic theories seem not to be coming to pass. I would have bet hard money that this week would see a drop of at least 500 points. Instead, it's going up. Why?

Today's rise of 150 points is solely due to increased earnings from Visa, which is almost entirely from a new round of stock buybacks they have ordered. This is not economic recovery. This is a disaster waiting to happen. When is anyone's guess, but I seriously doubt it will happen until after the election, and due to the holidays, probably delayed until some time earlier next year. But economic realties, in which 70% of this country is making less than $35,000 a year, say that a collapse is coming. Bet on it if the GOP wins the Senate, which they are most likely to do, and proceed to do absolutely nothing to fix the gaping holes in our society.

Meanwhile, back on topic, it came out yesterday that the Red Cross is being investigated for mishandling the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Irene. I had talked with people I knew from that area, as I lived in NJ for several years and have been to the state many, many times, including the Jersey Shore. What wasn't being reported on any major channel was that FEMA was doing a decent job while the Red Cross was nowhere to be found. Resident of Staten Island said it took FEMA hours to show up and the Red Cross weeks. Turns out, these eyewitness accounts proves accurate for once and the Red Cross is looking mighty iffy now.

This is from NPR:

In the months after the disaster, the Red Cross touted its success in delivering food, clothes and shelter to tens of thousands of people left homeless by the storm. Gail McGovern, the Red Cross president and CEO, told NBC News two weeks after the storm: "I think that we are near flawless so far in this operation."The truth, however, is different.The venerable charity's track record in dealing with the megastorm is now being challenged by an unusual cadre of critics — its own employees and records.

Multiple internaldocuments obtained by NPR and ProPublica along with interviews with top Red Cross officials reveal an organization that struggled to meet the basic needs of victims in the first weeks after the storm. The documents and interviews also depict an organization so consumed with public relations that it hindered the charity's ability to provide disaster services.
This shows a blatant disregard for both public safety and common sense. Money appears to have been siphoned away to parts unknown, which is one of the main reasons I give to very few charities. The smaller they are, the more likely they are not thieves. Here's some examples of how badly they fared with disaster aid, which is what they are supposed to be known for:

* The Red Cross national headquarters in Washington "diverted assets for public relations purposes." A former Red Cross official managing the Sandy effort says 40 percent of available trucks were assigned to serve as backdrops for news conferences.* Distribution of relief was "politically driven instead of [Red Cross] planned."

* Food waste was "excessive," due to factors including inexperienced staff, poor communication and "political pressures."* In one shelter, "sex offenders were placed in a special area off of dorm, but they weren't there, they were all over, including playing in children's area," according to a confidential "lessons learned" memo from the Red Cross.* "We didn't have the kind of sophistication needed for this size job," concluded one senior Red Cross official, describing the agency's logistics operations in notes from an after-action report five weeks after the storm. Added another official: "Multiple systems failed."
In other words, what their job basically is, they cannot do anymore. So why bother at all if you are going to muck things up so bad, in actuality making things worse?* Relief organizers were ordered to produce 200,000 additional meals one day — to drive up numbers. They did it at extraordinary cost, even though there was no one to deliver them to and most went to waste.* "It was just clear to me that they weren't interested in doing mass care; they were interested in the illusion of mass care," says Richard Rieckenberg, who helped lead the Red Cross' response to Sandy and Hurricane Isaac.

This is yet another example that refutes the GOP party line that government is incompetent and only private organizations can save us. FEMA was awful, but that was under W. and helmed by a guy with no experience in disaster relief. Once that ship had been righted, it has worked just fine, and one of the few things I can say Obama improved greatly from his predecessor. The Red Cross on the other hand is failing apart due to stupidity, greed and nepotism. Here's a few more for you:

* It wasn't just Sandy. When Isaac hit Mississippi and Louisiana earlier in 2012, Rieckenberg says: "We didn't have food in the shelters, we didn't have cots, we didn't have blankets in the shelters, which to me was incredible because we saw this hurricane coming a long way away."* Also during Isaac, one Red Cross official had 80 trucks drive around empty or largely empty "just to be seen," as one of the drivers recalls.* "Our experience with the Red Cross is they're a little late to the game," says Police Lt. Matthew Tiedemann, the emergency management coordinator for Bergen County, N.J., who says the Red Cross failed to provide volunteers and resources to open shelters after Sandy. "The reality set in that I was in the sheltering business. It was pretty time-consuming, considering I was putting together cots when I should have been managing an emergency," he says.

My favorite is the part where they say sex offenders were left to mingle with the kiddies. Yeah, that's not a lawsuit waiting to happen. How does that even happen? It was also reported that for some inane reason, pork lunches were sent to Jewish neighborhoods after Sandy, proving that the people who are running the Red Cross cannot read, use the Internet or apparently speak English, because that neighborhood has been distinctly Jewish for decades now. It would by like sending the KKK to Compton for a fund raiser.

This is the level of incompetence that we have to deal with on a daily basis. It isn't a left or right matter anymore, but an American one. The people we are sending to Washington to fix these things are incapable of that, yet the average voter either doesn't care or doesn't know any better. Either way, all signs still point to an epic fall, most likely sooner than later. I was right about the Red Cross. How long before I am right about the economy?

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

When did this world become full of people that mentally challenged individuals could make fun of for totally irrational decisions? Whether it be black people still protesting in Ferguson when all the available evidence says Brown was a racist douche who may or may not have deserved to get shot, or Republicans (and some Democrats) voting to put back into office the same ass they have complained about for the past decade, mankind has hit the wall of sanity.

Nowhere is that more readily apparent than in how Ebola is handled in this country. Over seas, the coverage is calm, rational and informative. Here a bunch of spastic monkeys are throwing their poo at the screen and seeing what sticks. In countries like Australia, they have joined the ranks of at least ten places banning individuals from hot zone areas, for the main reason of perception which is everything in society. Meanwhile, the so called "experts" here continue to spread false hoods over why such a quarantine won't work, such as how aid workers won't be able to get there, which is NOT what is being asked of. Flights TO said hot zones are fine. Flights out are another matter. Plus, exceptions could made for aid workers, as long as they know they face a 21 day home confinement once they get back.

And that is the problem. We just found out that when Dr. Spencer, now infected with Ebola, was questioned about his travel itinerary around NY, he lied and said he stayed home. When officials countered that with his credit card statement, he confessed he travelled across the city in blatant disregard for the protocols he was given. If a doctor can't self-quarantine, then who will?

Also bitching to high heaven, is recently returned nurse, Kaci Hickox, who first threw a fit over a mandatory 21 day isolation and threatened to sue, which apparently her and her lawyers know nothing about the vast power governors and the President have to isolate people for forever if they so decide. To make matters worse, after she was sent home, she has said she plans on breaking her quarantine and there's nothing anyone can do to stop her. WTF lady? The governor of Maine is now seeking to force her if she breaks her home confinement. This is what her organization Doctors Without Borders had to say:

Doctors Without Borders “strongly disagrees with blanket forced quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola affected countries,” the group said in an e-mailed statement.

Nice to know that these alleged doctors seem to know nothing about why said quarantine is necessary, if nothing else to STOP A FUCKING PANIC! Ebola is scary as hell, with as high as a 70% death rate. People do not care about the science about this. They just don't want to get it and considering how bad the CDC has been in handling this, like every corporate or government institution has been for over a decade now, people have a right to not trust anything being said about anything anymore. Here is what one resident had to say:

“They’re just really nervous,” Tammy Daigle said from behind the lunch counter at Stevie D’s Panini Plus. “I think they are having a hard time understanding why she wants to come up here for quarantineDaigle, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband, said national media attention has caught Fort Kent residents off guard. The town is better known as a destination for snowmobilers and hunters than for journalists from “Good Morning America.”“We don’t see any of that around here. Of all the places, it’s happening here,” Daigle said. “I hope (Hickox) understands we’re not against her, we’re just afraid. It’s scary.”
This dumb bitch is all about her, her, her and is falling to see that her actions are causing more people to panic needlessly when if she just sat her ass on the fucking couch for a few weeks, all of this would pass. But we have become such a self centered group of whining crybabies, that anytime something doesn't go our way, we lash out in anger and smugness. I HATE that kind of attitude.
It certainly is seen all over the midterms right now, where Congress has record low approval ratings, yet 90% of the incumbents are going to win. What is wrong with that picture? Democrats have run the worst ad campaign I have ever seen by falling to tie Republicans to people like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner which the right has done much better tying every Democrat to Obama and his idiotic policies. The left is humming and hawing over every answer the press asks them while the right keeps chanting "Obama's fault," over and over, even though Congress is every bit as complacent in the do nothing government we have.

The right wing voters seem to have forgotten the GOP ran this country into the ground, is still advocating policies that are proven failures and have no idea how to fix anything, yet they are the front runners next Tuesday. Take the Maine governor above fighting Hickox. He's a Tea Party douche who kept a roll of duct tape on his desk as a reminder to keep quiet after he alluded to sodomy while criticizing a political opponent. He joked about bombing the state’s largest newspaper and last year was quoted as saying the nation’s first black president “hates white people.”

About 38 percent of eligible Maine voters would re-elect the governor while 34 percent would vote for his Democratic opponent, Mike Michaud, according to a Pan Atlantic SMS Group poll conducted between Oct. 15 and Oct. 21. Another 10 percent plan to vote for independent Eliot Cutler, which is somehow sucking more votes away from the democrat rather than this waste of space. Like a lot of polls lately, this one is all over the place and will come down to the wire.

Lastly we have the economy. The Dow I thought would crater today as QE infinity has finally ended. No more free money for the banks who will instead have to resort to other means like ripping off their customers should have meant a lower Dow. And while it is down 20 point as of this writing, I thought for sure 400 would have been a good guess.

However, what they said at today's meeting was hardly one of great confidence. Interest rates will remain at zero until next year which is great for investors and crappy for anyone else. Here more of what they had to say:The statement also made a major change to the Fed’s view on labor markets. Instead of seeing “significant underutilization” in the labor market, which was in the September statement, the Fed now said that underutilization in labor resources “is gradually diminishing.” On inflation, the U.S. central bank dismissed concern with the drop in inflation expectations seen in financial markets. It said that surveys of longer-term inflation expectations have “remained stable.” It said that low inflation has been held down by low energy prices and “the likelihood of inflation running persistently below 2% has diminished somewhat since early this year.”
This is much like the housing market which went from record gains to a steep decline in housing prices, and which I might ad my article about this was dead on some time back when I said the government data was seriously flawed. Turns out, I was right. Again. Tomorrow comes the new GDP data, which I can promise will also be majorly overestimating the true state of the Union. When the revisions come back weeks later, it will be far less than what they say and massively underreported. Interest rates should have been raised some time ago but why let reality get in the way of trillions of dollars being stolen by the rich.

Our economy is a house of cards and one strong blow will knock it over. The EU is still failing, China is stalling and Japan is on the verge of collapse. Yet according to the news, its never been better here in the USA. Yippie.

We need to show up come Tuesday and vote out all the Republicans and most of the democrats. Vote for the third party. Vote for the non-incumbent, assuming the opponent isn't worse than the guy already in there and let's shake up Congress. Or we can nominate the same morons and watch the country sink. Your choice America but remember a vote for Republicans is a vote to end this country. Their policies are proven failures and so are you if you think this will change once they get into office.

Monday, October 27, 2014

We've all heard the proclamations from the CDC and other health organizations that Ebola cannot be casually transmitted through indirect contact. As someone who has studied the Ebola virus for more than 25 years now, I can safely tell you that is not entirely true. While it is not smallpox or the flu, which can be infectious at up to six feet, Ebola needs a more personal contact. However, a lot of what the CDC keeps blathering on about appears to be more along the lines of not wanting to start a panic, rather than inform people about the exact nature of the disease.

Signs are appearing in doctor's offices, dentist's practices and even the local pharmacies warning people about Ebola while also trying to tamp down fears. But misinformation is even worse than none at all. This was hanging up at a CVS:

The advisory urges airline staff to provide surgical masks to potential Ebola victims in order “to reduce the number of droplets expelled into the air by talking, sneezing, or coughing.” (emphasis mine).

The CDC is also directing airline cleaning personnel to, “not use compressed air, which might spread infectious material through the air.”

Researchers demonstrated that the virus could be transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact by placing the two animals in pens separated only by a wire barrier. After eight days, some of the monkeys were found to have symptoms of Ebola likely as a result of “inhaling large aerosol droplets produced from the respiratory tracts of the pigs.”

The NBC cameraman once infected with Ebola got it by aerosol transmission when power washing a car, thus airborne. So why keep telling us it isn't?

This is from the CDC website itself:

Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose, or mouth of another person. Droplets travel short distances, less than 3 feet (1 meter) from one person to another.

A person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose.***Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces like doorknobs, faucet handles, and toys, since the Ebola virus may live on surfaces for up to several hours.

And this from a study done in 1995 by the Army:

We also demonstrated aerosol transmission of Ebola virus at lower temperature and humidity than that normally present in sub-Saharan Africa. Ebola virus sensitivity to the high temperatures and humidity in the thatched, mud, and wattel huts shared by infected family members in southern Sudan and northern Zaire may have been a factor limiting aerosol transmission of Ebola virus in the African epidemics. Both elevated temperature and relative humidity (RH) have been shown to reduce the aerosol stability of viruses (Songer 1967). Our experiments were conducted at 240C [i.e. 75 degrees Fahrenheit] and < 40% RH, conditions which are known to favour the aerosol stability of at least two other African haemorrhagic fever viruses, Rift Valley fever and Lassa (Stephenson et a/. 1984; Anderson et a/. 1991). If the same holds true for filoviruses [Ebola is a type of filovirus], aerosol transmission is a greater threat in modern hospital or laboratory settings than it is in the natural climatic ranges of viruses.
This means that person to person transmission is much more likely in a hospital than anywhere else, and that seems to hold true due to secondary transmissions that happened in Texas Presbyterian which was woefully unprepared for these type of cases. Imagine what would happen in a mass outbreak.

NJ, NY, IL and others may have the right idea by confining people exposed to Ebola as self-quarantining has not worked so far by medical professionals who should really know better. Thomas Duncan's family had the same issues, refusing to stay inside, resulting in armed guards outside their residence. This is what NJ and NY have decided to do, letting shrill, harpy, Kaci Hickox go home for house arrest, which is what they should have done in the first place as she wasn't sick yet. However, her "lawsuit" against her arrest shows a sheer lack of knowledge about the power politicians have to detain you and, unfortunately for her, Chris Christie does have the right and the power to isolate potential threats to his state as dictated by law. Many have complained that this is deterring people from going to Ebola ravaged nations. I think that some are coming back with the disease is a far bigger issue and one that I have seen several people back out because of. A three week vacation at home doesn't sound as horrible as shitting myself for several straight weeks, as apparently that is one of the symptoms, continuous diarrhea with hot zone quality. Fun.

We need to be telling people you CAN get it from a bus, if you happen to be sitting next to some infectious individual, albeit however unlikely. I know a lot of you out there are sick of being lied to. Just tell us the truth and let us deal with it because if this does break out to a world wide epidemic because you were afraid the weaker of us can't handle it, half the world dies in six months. This is both a serious problem and massive over reactions, mostly by our ill-informed media outlets. The chances of Ebola becoming airborne are slim. But they are not zero and everytime you tell us something and then back track on it later, it makes trust that much harder in a world where that distrust is deadlier than any disease.